VS: stop auction of Munderi forests

Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has asked the government to immediately stop the proceedings to auction the pristine Munderi forests in Nilambur in Malappuram district.

In a statement here on Wednesday, he noted that these forests, with an extent of 1,163 acres lying in the catchment of Chaliyar River, had been ordered to be put up for auction by the Kozhikode Sub-Court. The last date for submitting tenders for the August 18 auction was August 13. If the auction were to take place, it would mean the decimation of these forests. It would lead to the death of the Chaliyar River.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the Sub-Court’s order had come on November 14, 2011. It was an unpardonable crime on the part of the government not to have approached the higher courts for obtaining a stay on that order so far.

Three weeks had elapsed since Forest Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar assured the Assembly that senior advocates practicing in the Supreme Court would be hired to fight the case properly in the court. However, the Law Department and the Advocate General’s office were pursuing the same policy of losing all forest cases in this case as well, he alleged.